It feels like you’re walking through someone’s sneeze today. It’s spitting out. It is, by far, my favorite weather ever. Though the ultimate is when it gets black out, mid-day. My cherry on top? Hiding away in the aisles of a book shop.
The other day Phil asked me if I believed in heaven. I told him I liked to believe that whatever it is we do believe happens, actually does happen. So if you believe in reincarnation, you will, in fact, return as a cow, or pelican, sea monkey, or tanning salon owner. And if you believe that it’s just the same as it was before you were born, that it’s something you can’t remember, something that doesn’t really exist, then that’s what it will be for you. It’s kind of like your ultimate dream being realized. So, I’m going to continue to believe that when I die, I will live in a world where book shops are abundant and always open, where they serve brioche, and where out the back door, you’ll find the Côte d’Azur, and the grandmother you’ve missed. Only now she won’t need to tell you to watch your figure because, just as it was written in Defending Your Life, you never feel too full, every tastebud is perky and engaged, and each bite only makes you all the more radiant, flexible, and toned.
Until then, I’ll be creating my own version of it here in Austin, where the weather has charmed my pants off, and I’m luxuriating in the loveliness that is the Barnes & Noble Specialty Cookbooks section.
3 YEARS AGO: Where the Jews Are…Not
4 YEARS AGO: Flour Overdose, Chew the Chat

My heaven would then certainly be white sandy beaches, loaded down with impossibly gorgeous flowers. A warm breeze that didn’t have a hint of cool in it enjoyed on a big wrap-around porch looking over the water. A white chaise lounge with a never-ending supply of calorie free brie en croute, champagne, pralines, fried bread and real butter. A stack of books that would fulfill my wildest imaginings. And sleep. Blissful, uninterrupted, restful sleep. Oh – and an occasional visit from the darlings.
Oh – and most importantly, big, luscious, thick thunder storms that roll in occasionally and make it vitally important to break out the candles. Yum.
I have often thought the same thing — it is what you think it’ll be. What a sweet post. And a friend in Tx told me you guys have been having a pretty severe drought, so congrats on the rain finally!
What an excellent reminder that I should stop at Bookpeople on the way home!
Funny…I’ve never met anyone who thought the same way about Heaven…that it’s what you believe in. hmmm interesting.
I definitely miss Austin’s rainstorms with a Cool Front moving in…just the smell in the air makes me smile.
Enjoy it and the books! – A girl in Southern Cali is incredibly jealous!
If that’s your idea of Heaven, I will see you there, girlfriend. Rows upon rows of books. And one of those huge, tall moving ladders that glides between shelves–think of the library in Beauty and the Beast, hahaha. I kind of can’t wait to get there!
I told my daughter when she was little that heaven could be whatever she though it was: closets upon closets filled with pretty clothes and a discoball in each room.
She’s now almost 17 and my, how things have changed!
Reminds me of that movie, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” with John Voight. There is a scene towards the end that chokes me up every time I think about it…
I was with you until Barnes and Noble.
You live in Austin! Book People is much more heavenly.